Shadow's Adventures
by Dragonartist
Summary: Shadow the umbreon is separated from his trainer and quests to return to her side
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Shadow walks his usual route through the city. He hasn't seen many people around on the streets like usual. _There must be a carnival or something in town_, he thought as he continued down the deserted streets. His trainer expects him home by the time she gets up and opens the door. It's five something in the morning and his trainer wakes up at six. He starts heading home. On the way, he sees the neighbor's espeon curled up with her litter in the alley next to his home. He reaches his doorstep; his trainer hasn't woken up yet to unlock the door, _Figures she'd still be asleep._ He sighs and curls up on the steps.  
A sharp pain in his ribs wakes him sometime later in his ribs. "Oh Shadow! Are you all right? I'm sorry," his trainer's voice still sounds drunk with sleep. He gets up slowly and nuzzles her affectionately to say he was fine.  
"There's a pokémon festival in town this week, and I entered you in one of the contests." She smiles wide and scoops him up into her arms, "So that means you need a bath mister night prowler." Shadow hangs limply in her arms, he doesn't particularly like baths but, if it must be done...  
Lots of water and a mountain of foam later, Shadow is lilac-scented with a large blue bow around his neck.  
"There, all clean and ready for contests." His trainer is smiling again.  
He scratches at the bow, it feels strange against his fur; it itches too. Shadow forces himself to sit still, _If she put this thing on me it must be for the show. I probably shouldn't mess it up._ He does his best to ignore the bow and eventually it settles into a comfortable place in his fur and he forgets about it.  
The fair grounds are packed with people and their prized pokémon, _So this is where everyone was last night. I thought it was a carnival of some kind._ He smiles at himself for being so clever. He is scooped up again and carried into a large tent, _This must be the show tent..._ Shadow glances around. Several other pokémon are sitting on pedestals placed around the walls of the tent, their poké balls next to them. His trainer walks him over to a pedestal at the far end of the tent, _Great, I'll be judged dead last._ He slouches and folds his ears back. His trainer pulls his poké ball off her belt and sets it next to him. It's almost completely white with a thin red line around the rim.  
"Judging will begin shortly. Please remain patient." Shadow yawns and curls up for a nap while they waited.

...

Shadow is woken by his trainer, frantically poking his ribs. He opens one eye to see her face contorted with worry; he springs up and looks around him. Everything is chaos, pokémon and trainers running around everywhere, _Is this how contests are supposed to work? Something doesn't seem right..._ Suddenly, the tent is torn from above them and a large flying fortress hovers in its place; a huge red 'R' painted on it. Shadow growls at it, _What's going on here?_

His trainer grabs him and tries to run but trips.

Shadow goes flying and lands hard a few yards away. Someone grabs him by the scruff of the neck, they mumble, "A _shiny_ umbreon, eh?" and places him in a sack. "Let him go!" he hears his trainer's voice screaming. Cold laughter from beside him and a strange voice answers, "Not a chance, we're takin' these pokémon to the Boss." His captor starts walking away, swinging the sack rather carelessly; a weightless feeling and another hard landing. _Grrr...who do these people think they are, throwing us around like this? If I weren't tied up in this sack I'd..._ Shadow growls loudly at whomever it was that had bagged him. He starts to wriggle around in the sack, eventually loosening the tie. He pokes his head out just in time to see the door of the large carrier slam shut and throw everything into darkness.  
Shadow roars in frustration. He feels helpless, a new feeling for him. He runs over to the door and rams it. His futile struggle stirs a wave of rustling from the other sacks in the container. Shadow continues to head butt the door, gritting his teeth trying to ignore the pain, his paws slipping on the metal floor as he presses ever harder into the door. Eventually, he gives in, sinking to the floor. The container gives a great lurch as the fortress pulls it skyward. Shadow whines, _Why did this happen to me and all these others? Why today? Why at all? My trainer, no, all the trainers must be sick with worry._ Tears rolled down his face, falling between his paws. _Why..._  
Shadow's body heaves with sobs, he's never been away from his trainer. _What's going to happen to us?_ "I feel so powerless..."  
A small hand touches his back; a pikachu is trying to comfort him.  
Shadow turns to face it, both Shadow's and the pikachu's eyes are red, it has been crying as well. Shadow blinks the tears from his eyes.  
"We all feel powerless to stop what's happening." the pikachu replies.  
Several other sacks nod, agreeing with the muffled voices of Shadow and the pikachu.  
"All we can do is wait, I'm afraid." It gives Shadow a final reassuring pat on the back and returns to freeing the others.  
_I hate waiting. Waiting is wasted time, better spent figuring a way out of here._ Shadow gets up and looks around the interior of the container. All he sees is the smooth metal sides. _Metal..._ "There's fire pokemon in here, right?" he calls.  
The pikachu gives him a strange look, "I think so...Why?"  
"They can melt a hole in the side of this box, we can all escape."  
Muffled mumbling fills the container.  
"Yeah, and what about how high we are? How will we land without dying?" the pikachu asks, skeptical.  
"Birds can fly us down or we can land on trees. I don't think we're all that high up anyway." he replies.  
The pikachu seems to be calculating something, weighing risks and gains, it grimaces trying to untie the sack its holding, "I don't' know, it seems kind of risky." Pikachu grows evermore frustrated with the tie.  
"Don't you want to get back to your trainers? This could be our one chance to escape. Don't you think it's worth the risk?" Shadow glares at the frustrated pikachu; it's still struggling with the tie.  
"I never said I didn't want to get back or that it wasn't worth it. I merely stated that it sounded risky, which it is." The pikachu returns his glare.  
"Yeah it's risky, I'll admit it, but it's also the only way I can see for us to escape before this flying fortress reaches wherever it's taking us."  
The pikachu finally succeeds in freeing the pokemon in the sack it's holding, a young growlithe rears its head and shakes out its fur.  
Shadow smiles, "Exactly the pokémon we need for my plan."  
The pikachu nods and sighs, "I guess it's worth a shot."

Shadow jumps around the inside of the container, searching for the thinnest place for the growlithe to burn through. He lands on a spot that has a lower pitch than the rest of the wall, "Finally, a weakness..." he claws the spot, leaving faint scratch marks before he falls back to the floor. "That spot right up there is the weakest point that I found."  
The growlithe and some of its friends eye the scratch marks, carefully aiming their attacks. Then a virtual volcano of flame races toward the wall, liquefying the metal and creating a hole through which to escape.  
Loud cheering fills the box, every pokémon now free thanks to pikachu and growlithe.  
The pikachu motions for all of them to move, "Let's get out of here then." Shadow and Pikachu hurry up to the hole and look down, expecting a huge drop. But the drop wasn't' so bad, twenty feet to the treetops and another forty or so to the ground.  
The pikachu gulps, "Twenty feet...that's not too bad." They continue to look down.  
"We'll have to chance it, look." Shadow points to the front of the aircraft, a large dark structure looms on the horizon.  
The pikachu looks back to the trees and jumps, landing safely among the branches. It signals the OK for the rest to follow, which they did, very quickly.  
A waterfall of pokémon flows out of the side of the container, Shadow standing at the exit making sure of everyone's escape.  
_I can't believe the idiots flying this thing don't see this... _he thought as the last of the captives goes free.  
Shadow is left alone in the metal box, he runs to the sack he was captured in and fetches his poké ball. Holding it in his mouth, he makes the jump into the forest with the remainder of the once beautiful blue bow around his neck. "I have to get back to my trainer, she must be worried sick." As soon as his paws hit the dirt, he's running; running at full tilt, trying to get back to where the aircraft tried to steal him away from, his home.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Shadow runs through the forest, trees and pokémon whipping past him, his poké ball clenched in his teeth and thoughts running through his head, "If I can just get back home to my trainer...everything will be normal again." small tears fall from his eyes as he runs, _Why did they take us away?_ His legs and paws are growing tired from running at full speed for so long.  
Eventually, he reaches a lake and stops for a while to rest. Shadow glances around at his beautiful surroundings, _If only my trainer were here, she would love this place._ He couldn't help but think it, and it tugs at his heart to do so. He misses home, he has no idea where he is, and he has nothing to help him besides his poké ball and a blue bow, which now hangs limply around his neck. Shadow collapses on the lakeshore, staring into his reflection, trying to think of how to get home.  
A twig snaps in the forest.  
Shadow is up and alert in seconds, growling toward the sound, "Show yourself! I know you're there, just come out where I can see you."  
A squirtle wriggles out of the underbrush and runs over to Shadow, "I'm sorry, we were passing through and didn't know you were here. Sorry for disturbing you." It talked rather fast, as if Shadow had scared it by his address of the bushes. He only hung on one word, "We?"  
"My trainer and I." the squirtle replies, "Why do you ask?"  
Shadow isn't sure if he can trust the squirtle just yet, "Why don't you get your trainer out here then? Why let them hide in the bushes?"  
The squirtle obliges, and soon the bushes produce and frayed-looking boy that looks to be no older that fifteen.  
Shadow is convinced, "Do you know where we are? I'm lost, severely lost, and need to get back to my own trainer," He nudges the poké ball in front of him, "There's a city close by here, right?"  
The squirtle nods and turns to his own trainer to repeat what Shadow said.  
"Uh, do you mean Slateport? That's a ways off though." the boy replies.  
The squirtle turns back to Shadow.  
"Yeah, Slateport. But it's far away?" Shadow's ears droop, _I didn't realize that thing was flying that fast... _  
"I think you could travel with us. We're heading that way anyway," the squirtle offers.  
Shadow contemplates this for a minute. _Do they really want to help or do they just want the employ of a shiny umbreon?_ "Alright, I'll come along, but as soon as we hit Slateport I'm gone. Kapeche?"  
The squirtle nods and relays the message.  
"Okay, Slateport it is. Do you want me to carry your poké ball for you?" the boy addresses Shadow, he growls in response and the boy shrinks away, "I guess not. Off we go then." and the boy leads their small party back into the underbrush.  
Shadow falls in behind the Squirtle as the threesome hike down the path through the forest. Shadow glances around at the surrounding trees and pokémon as he walks. Several aipom and mankey swing from the trees above them, chattering noisily. Shadow tries to ignore them.  
The boy stops and stands there looking even geekier than he did walking, if that's possible. "I hear something, a pokemon is near."  
_Well duh. There's two of them following you, idiot. _Shadow sighs and sits down, waiting for this sideshow to end and the traveling to resume, he lets his poké ball fall and roll to his side. Shadow waits patiently as the boy and the squirtle stand motionless; he begins to wonder about their mental states, "What are you doing?"  
His question seems to startle the Squirtle who motions for him to be quiet.  
Shadow rolls his eyes; he gathers his poké ball close to him and falls asleep on it.  
The bushes continue to rustle, Shadow looks up out of curiosity. Eventually, a scratched and bruised pikachu emerges from the bush.  
Shadow springs up, "There's no way. It's too much of a coincidence." He runs over to it, nudging it gently. Soon it comes to, looking up at Shadow.  
It smiles drunkenly, "Did I make it?" It topples over, out cold.  
_He must've landed on his head..._ Shadow concludes, nudging his head under the unconscious pikachu, eventually succeeding in getting it onto his back. He walks past the two idiots, still standing absolutely still, watching the bush. Shadow picks up his poké ball and continues down the path. He passes the squirtle and boy once more, casting his final insult and leaving them behind. _I'll get home by myself then, I don't need them._  
Shadow walks along the path, a determined look in his eyes. The pikachu lays sprawled across his back, still unconscious from the rough landing. The two are left alone for the most part; the forest path is quiet and virtually devoid of pokémon to bother them.  
After a while of this, Shadow begins to feel tired. His paws start to drag along the ground and his eyes just don't want to stay open anymore. Eventually his legs buckle beneath the combined weight of the two pokémon, sending the unconscious pikachu skidding a few feet from Shadow. They lay there, oblivious to any and all surroundings.  
As the two pokémon sleep, a zubat flits out from the shadows on the side of the path followed by its trainer. The trainer wore a black uniform with a bright red 'R' on the front. The zubat loops back and perches on the trainer's shoulder, she strokes it casually, "That was a good hypnosis, Zubat," she coos to it. It squeaks proudly.  
Her partner, similarly dressed, glanced at Shadow and the pikachu, "Nice catch." he comments.  
She looks and gasps at Shadow's coloring, "Dude! It's a _shiny_ umbreon! Score!" she high-fives her male companion.  
"We should bag 'em before they wake up. I'm sure the Boss would like the umbreon for his collection."  
"Right." she fishes around for a burlap sack in her side pouch, eventually finding it and stuffing a still sleeping Shadow inside it. "There. Let's go."  
The two leave the pikachu passed out in the middle of the path as they sprint down the road toward the fortress.


End file.
